


Smiles Are To Humanity

by ShellyNelsonLahey



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:20:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28486722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShellyNelsonLahey/pseuds/ShellyNelsonLahey
Summary: Veronica Lodge is known as the skater girl, and Jughead the “soft boy” who keeps to himself. One day he’s snapping a picture at the skate park when Veronica’s skateboard runs rampant and hits him in the ankle. It hurt, and he should have been angry, but smiles and kindness and understanding can go a long way.
Relationships: Jughead Jones & Veronica Lodge, Jughead Jones/Veronica Lodge, jughead jones x veronica lodge
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31





	Smiles Are To Humanity

**Author's Note:**

> This started out as just a moodboard, which turned into a short fic, and then on Tumblr as a headcanon post but I fell in love with the idea of badass bitch skater girl Veronica meeting soft boy Jughead who doesn’t have any friends and just takes pictures of things he likes and asdfghjkl; it’s just so cute I hope you love this as much as I do!

**_“What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.” ― Joseph Addison_ **

* * *

Jughead Jones tilted his camera lens up towards the forest of trees, squatting in an attempt to find the perfect ray of sunshine to filter through the juniper green leaves. But it wasn’t quite right to his seafoam eyes, which resulted in his left foot twiddling forward ever so slightly in hopes of catching the angle he envisioned.

Holding his breath, his steady hands lowered and if he wasn’t already not breathing, it would have hitched anyways because _finally, he had the perfect shot_. The beautiful ‘sun peeking through foliage’ shot that even people without the artistic eye could find absolutely breathtaking came and he was not going to let it pass him by. Clicking the shutter release button, he allowed himself to breathe again.

“Watch out!” The screams of two girls ripped him out of his own little bubble, but the boy had no time to even look over to see who they were calling out to before a skateboard barreled into his left ankle. His body buckled and he fell into the grass clutching his ankle, hissing in pain. Seafoam eyes hidden behind tight eyelids, he almost felt as if it eased the throbbing just a tiny bit. He wasn’t sure which of the two girls had stepped into the grass to come to his aid, but all that mattered to him at the moment was that the pain was slowly subsiding as seconds ticked passed. About ten seconds later, the other girl dusted herself off of the pavement and joined in beside her friend, or at least that’s what his ears managed to hear. “Okay, dude, I know it hurts but you’re acting like you got shot.”

Jughead laughed weakly, looking up to see one girl leaning over to check on him. The girl on the left who’s board had killed his ankle joined after she recovered from her slip, her tousled blacck hair was hidden behind a beanie but god, did she take his breath away. She was gorgeous; she lightly shoved her friend, who sported coffee brown box braids, which dangled in front of Jughead’s slightly blurry sight.

“Toni!”

“What? I’m right!” Toni murmured. “How about I go and grab some ice from the gas station―even though it was your board that took him out―and you just try not to attack his other ankle. He doesn’t need to get attached and hurt himself just so you’ll have to help him and become his hot caretaker.”

Her boxer braids danced as she dropped her skateboard and began to pump her right leg to skate out towards the street. With her disappearing behind another batch of trees that surrounded the skate park, Jughead brought his gaze onto the remaining skater. Accompanying her beanie, she wore a long striped sleeve underneath a white t-shirt. They were tucked into blue jeans that looked like they fit perfectly except they cut off about an inch above her ankle. There, he could see nike socks and black checkered vans to complete her outfit.

He questioned himself as to why he was looking over her outfit because the second he glanced up into her eyes, the air in his lungs hitched for what seemed like the millionth time today. They were dark and normal, nothing to really gawk at, but he knew that with the right angle they would light up in the sun. She was already beautiful, but in the sunshine? She’d be absolutely radiant.

Jughead smiled at her, only just now registering the fact that she was holding out her hand for him to take. She pulled him up off of the ground and chuckled lightly. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. My ankle hurts, but I've committed scooter-ankle a billion times when I was a kid so the weak limp should go away in about five minutes.” Jughead was relieved when she laughed at his attempt to be relatable.

He couldn’t get over her smile, or her laugh. She didn’t even need the sun to leave him awestruck.

“So, did you get it?”

Snapping back to their conversation, he blinked a couple of times, unsure what she was referring to. “What?”

“Did you get your shot?” She nodded towards the camera, which lay a bit lopsided on his chest. _Thank God_ for camera straps.

“Oh!” Jughead had never really had anyone ask about his photography. His sister did once, but that was because she was trying to act interested enough so he would do a “professional” photoshoot for her that she could show off to her friends with. “Uh, yeah. Right before you decided to attack me.”

“I did not attack you. I slipped and hurt my ass, too!” She humphed playfully. “Can I… see it?”

Jughead sucked on his lower lip. This was his chance to actually talk to a pretty girl. A girl who didn’t find him nerdy or weird. This was his romance movie chance that would change his life. Whether he got a girlfriend or a best friend out of it, he didn’t mind either one. He could just tell that she was a great person to have in your life. “I’ll make you a deal. You can see what I took, and my other pictures if you desire, but you have to tell me your name first.”

“Right, we haven’t actually…” she trailed off for a moment or two before picking up her volume. “Um, my name is Veronica. What about you, Mr. Professional Photographer?”

“Promise not to laugh?”

“I will try my best, Mr. PP.”

“Mr. PP? Really?”

Veronica opened her mouth to explain, but briefly stopped to try to hold in her laughter. “Yeah, um, I didn’t really think that through before it came out of my mouth. But Mr. Professional Photographer is a mouthful, so… let’s pretend I’m not making a fool of myself and continue on with your name, yeah?”

“My name is Jughead.”

“Either your parents hate you or you had a jug for a head as a baby.”

Jughead chuckled under his breath. “My name is actually Forsythe Pendleton Jones the Third, but my relationship with my dad is pretty awful and I didn’t want to be associated with him so I came up with Jughead to be different.”

“You could have chosen FP. Or PJ. Or literally anything else, but to each their own.” Veronica shrugged off her opinions and held out her hands with a sly smirk. “But I think I like Jughead a lot better.”

“Be gentle, please… i’ve never shown anyone other than my sister the photos on my camera.” Jughead meekly begged while placing the camera into her open palms. “I know it seems like i’m being overly dramatic but―” he shook his head at himself, stopping his sentence short; telling Veronica his sob story after knowing her for maybe five minutes was not the way he wanted this to go. He didn’t want to scare away the only girl who didn’t see him as a weird loner photographer with the tragic backstory.

He could tell Veronica’s interest was piqued, but she dropped it and instead placed her focus on the camera. She turned it on and clicked the button to check out the gallery. He was thankful she didn’t see him nervously biting at the tip of his thumb.

“Wow… you really have an eye for beauty. These are incredible!” She commented, a wide grin plastered on her features. He could tell she was genuinely into them, and not just being nice because she resembled a little kid waking up Christmas morning. “Oh, this one has to be my favorite. The skate park at night is truly an aesthetic.”

And before he could stop himself, he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck and asked: “Would you want to take some photos here tonight?” Wow, you must have hit your head hard if you really just asked her to be your model after meeting her just a few minutes ago. “I-I mean, you are clearly a part of the aesthetic. It’d be cool to have an actual model to photograph… but only if you’d be okay with it. You can totally say no, I was just wondering—I’ll shut up before I get hit.”

Veronica flickered her gaze up to meet his, a smirk playing on her lips. “If this is your way of hitting on me, you should really work on that. But I'll bite, I'd love to be photographed at my favorite place in the world.” She handed the camera back; he was very grateful that she made sure it was safely in his hands before letting go of the camera strap. “Could Toni join too?”

“I don’t mind.”

“Cool.”

The two had slipped into an awkward yet comfortable silence, taking refuge under the stone gazebo for people to eat lunch so they could get out of the sun’s harsh rays.

“Date tomorrow?” Veronica cocked an eyebrow.

Jughead blinked, confused. “What?”

“Do you want to go out on a date tomorrow?” she reiterated slowly, “you clearly like me, I think you’re cute, and I don’t think you have the guts to do it so I might as well ask.”

“Oh.” He flushed, embarrassed. She called him cute, but was that in a ‘you’re adorable and I feel bad that I hurt you and so I should make it up to you somehow’ way or ‘you’re attractive and I’d like to get to know you more’ kind of cute? Knowing him, he figured it was the first option. “T-Thank you. But, you don’t have to go out on a date with me to make up the fact that you destroyed my ankle, or anything. I wouldn’t want you to do something you didn’t want to.”

“Who said I didn’t want to?”

Jughead wasn’t used to talking to anyone, and therefore he had no idea how to talk to her. Especially someone so… unlike anyone he’s ever met. Most girls didn’t seem so outright as Veronica, and while he liked that, he had no clue how to go about that. “Uh… well… why would you? I’m just some strange boy who doesn’t seem like your type whatsoever.”

“Who said you’re not my type?”

“What is your type?”

She smirked. “Cute people who aren’t total douchebags who just want to use you, which isn’t you and therefore you are my type.”

“But…”

“I take it you’re a shy, loner kind of guy who doesn’t get anyone’s attention, huh? So me, a fairly attractive girl being actually interested in you is new territory. Am I right?”

He hated to admit it, but she was spot on. “Yeah.”

“Let me give you some advice, Jughead.” Veronica smiled and patted his cheek. “If I didn’t like you, or I didn’t want to go out on a date with you, then I wouldn’t have brought it up.”

Jughead nodded, “okay. Um, how are you so good at reading me?”

Veronica laughed, her eyes flickering towards the side, spotting Toni heading back their way. “Because I’ve been judged my whole life for my hobbies, so I learned to figure out who was worth it. You? You’re definitely worth a try. So hopefully you can get past the cool, badass, pretty girl being interested in you.”

And before Jughead could even react to what she had said, Toni walked up and held out a small baggie full of ice. “God, he looks like he’s in shock… what’d you do, Ronnie? Threaten the kid with ramming his other ankle?”

* * *

“Ooh, Jughead, I know you’re the photographer and know what looks good, but I think you should put your foot on my skateboard and make it appear like a selfie,” Veronica suggested, “I think it’d look really cool.”

Jughead mulled it over, biting down on his lower lip as he envisioned what Veronica was trying to tell him. Currently, it was about midnight, darker than he’d like even with the dim streetlights and shining moon, and him, Veronica, and Toni had been messing around the skate park taking pictures. It was incredibly fun and exhilarating for Jughead, this was way out of his comfort zone but in a good way.

“Sure, let’s try it.” Jughead agreed, placing his right foot a little above the screws. Veronica’s opposite foot was on the other end; Toni’s skateboard was right beside hers, in the frame, with her right foot essentially where Jughead’s was except on the top and not the bottom. He clicked the [picture](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/289074869840166022/), took it a couple of times just to be sure he got it and that he got it _right_. “You’re right, it does look pretty cool.”

He showed the other two as they hopped off their skateboards, a mix of “wow!” and excited gasps were heard from the girls.

“Hey, i’ll be right back, will you keep an eye on my board?” Toni tapped Veronica’s shoulder, placing the favor directly on her before she began to speed off without an answer. But she knew Veronica would say yes, why wouldn’t she? “Thanks, I love you!”

Veronica chuckled gently, “that looks very fucking cool. Since we’ve been taking photos all night, do you want to stop there or…”

“We can do a few more. Um, how great are you at balancing on your skateboard?”

When she returned a questioning look, Jughead shook his head and nodded towards her board in a silent ask. She handed it to him and he placed his camera on the asphalt. Then, he sat in the pose he was trying to get her to do. He placed both hands on either end of the board, one foot on the ground with the other up in the air like he was kicking someone away from him. His butt was lifted just a little bit, but it was incredibly uncomfortable.

“Okay, ignore that question. No balancing, just sitting, with your leg up.”

“Looks easy enough.” Veronica mimicked Jughead’s pose and looked away from the camera, smiling a little bit as if she wasn’t paying attention and this was one of those cute [pictures](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/289074869840166030/) that someone took of you when you weren’t aware. “I really love how you see things.”

“Mmhm?” Jughead murmured, going through each of the many pictures he took of that pose. “How do you mean?”

She joined in beside him, curious to see how she looked. “I never would have thought to raise my leg, or even sit on my board like that. It’s like you’re able to see things others aren’t, and that’s pretty fucking cool.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah.” Veronica grabbed her board and began to skate towards the street. It wasn’t a part of his photoshoot but he snapped a [shot](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/289074869840166025/) anyways of her natural skating state. It was absolutely beautiful to him how she felt so comfortable. He doesn’t believe he could ever do that, at least not without eating concrete straight after. “So, one last picture? What do you think?”

“I think I already got it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I took a picture of you skating and I think it looks pretty aesthetic. Almost makes me want to skate.” He cracked a smile seeing her light up at the idea of teaching him to skate. But he was definitely not ready for that. “ _Almost_.”

She turned around and skated back to meet him. “I just did it because I wanted to move, there’s no way that could turn out that great.”

“Well, honestly, it’s a lot about the model you have. When they’re absolutely beautiful, you can take a picture of them simply existing and it’ll turn out amazing,” Jughead’s tongue flicked out to wet his lips. He’d never openly flirted like that, but being around Veronica seemed to be doing that to him: taking him out of his comfort zone, doing things he wouldn’t normally do. It scared the shit out of him but he loved it.

“Fuck… I do look awesome.” It was only then did they realize how close they were to one another. Veronica’s breath was clear in the cold hour of midnight, and it mixed with Jughead’s. She turned, as did he, and there was only a small gap in between them. “Have you ever been ki—”

“Hey, guess who’s here!” Toni called excitedly, interrupting the moment between them.

Jughead cleared his throat and pulled away, spotting Toni and two other boys walking towards him and Veronica. Normally, that’d be fine, but Jughead was way out of his element with this group and those two guys looked like they could squash him with their pinkies. When it was just him, Toni, and Veronica, it was okay, but suddenly he felt nervous.

“Sweet Pea, Fangs? I thought you bozos were on a date!” Veronica laughed, running up to them and jumping into a hug. They embraced her tightly, one glaring at Jughead like he was a bull and Jughead was wearing all red. But when Veronica let go, it was gone, and he almost thought he made it up. “Toni and I were thinking we wouldn’t see you until tomorrow.”

“It’s midnight, so technically it’s already tomorrow,” the other guy retorted, earning an eye roll from the girls. “We were going to stay at Pea’s house but then his brother came home and considering he’s not out yet, I climbed out the window while he got to use the front door.”

“Is that the camera guy from school?” According to what the guy had said, this was Sweet Pea. He was a little over a foot taller than Jughead, with hair essentially as dark as his, and typical skater fashion. His boyfriend, Fangs, was about Jughead’s height and his hair was also dark, but it was shorter than Sweet Pea’s. “Who never talks to anyone and doesn’t seem to have any friends?”

“Sweet Pea!” Veronica growled, slapping his shoulder. “Don’t be an ass.”

Jughead chuckled meekly, hoping he could get on his good side. “Well, he’s not wrong, Veronica. It’s fine, really.”

“I’m not trying to be rude but we don’t seem like his kind of friends,” Fangs murmured, “but, hey, I'm down for him joining our group.”

“Veronica’s skateboard rammed into his ankle and to make up for it, we’ve been taking pictures all night. It’s super fun,” Toni explained, “maybe we can do a few more with the boys?”

“Uh… yeah. Sure.” Jughead agreed, smiling at the two boys. Fangs reciprocated, but Sweet Pea remained stoic. “Quick question: does me existing near your group make Sweet Pea want to kill me, because if so I can totally leave and never come back if that’s the case.”

“Babe, knock it off,” Fangs reprimanded, shoving into his boyfriend as a warning. Then, he turned to Jughead. “Sweet Pea is like that, sorry. He won’t actually hurt you unless you hurt one of us.”

“So, are you?” Sweet Pea questioned. “Going to hurt Veronica?”

Jughead’s blood froze. Did he see him and Veronica when they were coming up? They were a bit a ways away, how was that possible? “N-No?”

Sweet Pea smiled brightly, almost too brightly, and clapped his hands both of Jughead’s shoulders. “Great, then you’ll be fine. Oh, but don’t kiss her in front of us ever again or i’ll use your brain matter to make a stew. Got it?”

“I will literally fuck Jughead on your bed, Pea.” Veronica butt in between them, glaring. “Leave Jughead alone. We’re going on a date tomorrow night, so behave yourself. Would you rather me date Jughead, or your brother?”

“Reggie’s a player, he’d end up hurting you. Jughead, however, is a wild card.”

“You’ll have to excuse Sweet Pea, he’s like Veronica and I’s older brother. He’s very protective,” Toni sent a sympathetic smile, “once he views you as a friend, though, no one will be able to hurt you without messing with him.”

“Uh… okay.”

Jughead felt his pocket vibrate. Hastily, he brought out his phone and was actually relieved it was his step sister Betty face timing him. He excused himself and walked away from the group for privacy. When he answered, Betty was laying on the couch, light from the TV in the living room lighting up her features. “Our parents are coming home with Taco Bell. If you don’t want me to eat your food you better be here in time.”

And that was it, before he could even react, she had ended the call.

He was definitely going to go home now that the two guys were here and they scared him, but in order to not seem like he was leaving because of them, Jughead called out, “my parents want me home, but if we’re going to do one more photo, we have to do it now.”

Jughead was surprised that Sweet Pea actually looked really into taking the [picture](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/11188699062874473/). They all scattered to the skate ramps, pretending they weren’t aware of someone photographing them in their natural habitat. All four of them were splayed out in the dip of the ramp; Fangs leaned against Sweet Pea and they were making out, while Toni had her head rested on his legs near his feet with Veronica between her legs, looking up at the night sky. The bright graffiti blended well with their dark outfits, and even though the entire picture started as a way to get onto Sweet Pea’s good side, he was happy he did it because it looked so cool.

He showed the group, who were absolutely obsessed with it, before he began to pack up and leave.

Toni, Sweet Pea, and Fangs began to skate and hang out by themselves while Veronica stood beside Jughead. “You never answered my question.”

Jughead quirked an eyebrow. “What question?”

“Have you ever kissed anybody?” She giggled upon seeing Jughead freeze up. “It’s okay if you haven’t. I was just wondering since I thought we were going to kiss before those three idiots showed up and interrupted.”

“Uh… no… I haven’t.” His cheeks burned with the truth, though he tried to hide it as he packed up his camera into his camera bag. “But maybe you could show me after our date. You know, if Sweet Pea doesn’t murder me first.”

“Listen, he can be a scary dude but deep down he’s a soft, cuddle teddy bear.” Veronica snickered, “you just… have to get to know him.”

“I’d love to, as long as I don’t have to be put into a fight ring with him first.”

“No. Just… know that he’s all talk unless you do something to someone in our friend group.”

“Yeah, but—” To shut Jughead and his only comeback up, Veronica turned him to face her, placed her hands on his cheeks, and looked him dead in the eyes. Jughead let out a surprised pant, blinking a couple of times. This was much, much closer than earlier. If either one of them puckered their lips even a tiny bit, they’d be kissing.

“I know we’re going to have a date tomorrow night, but we might as well get it out of the way, right?” she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. “Can I kiss you?”

Jughead, barely able to comprehend that this was real, nodded, swallowing eagerly. Within a second, Veronica’s lips fell into his and he took a step back and gripped the picnic bench to steady himself. Veronica’s mouth opened a little bit and he felt her tongue glide across his lips like she was asking to enter. He wasn’t sure what to do, if there was a signal he was supposed to give, but hoped that she knew he gave her permission.

Veronica understood he had never kissed anybody before, and that he wasn’t aware. His stringy breaths were indicators that she could go deeper, and she did. He was awkward with her but the kiss was gentle and innocent, much different from a lot of kisses she’s shared with other people. Jughead cursed at the books he had read about this scenario, how normally butterflies or fireworks went off and they knew they were the one. That didn’t happen, though. Just the excitement and chilly weather causing goosebumps to rise over his exposed flesh.

Even though he’d been with her all day, Jughead hadn’t noticed the way she smelled of mint and some warm, spicy scent—a combination of the gum she chewed earlier and her perfume that he couldn’t quite capture swirling around them, engulfing them, enhancing his senses in what felt like every way.

As soon as he had lost himself in the kiss, Veronica pulled away for air and it was then that he realized he needed to breathe, too. He wasn’t sure how long he was holding his breath but both of them were taking in deep breaths and watching them physicalize in the cold air. Hers stuttered as she let out a soft laugh, “just to let you know, when someone puts their tongue in your mouth, that is them asking for permission to go farther.”

“Oh.” Jughead whispered, embarrassed that he didn’t know that. He had kind of insinuated it, and he did let her in, but he was now wanting to disappear into thin air after that.

“Don’t worry, we’ll practice more after our date tomorrow night, yeah?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“You’re too cute.”

“Thanks?”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Forsythe.”

“See you tom—wait, when did your gum get into my mouth?” Veronica swiftly turned around and laughed, not giving him any answer even though he wanted to tell her he thought she spit it out an hour ago. “Um… i’m gonna… yeah, she doesn’t care. How the hell did she do that without me noticing?”


End file.
